It is obvious from what has been said, that holiness, as a religious term, did not originate within the sphere of the revealed religion of Israel. It is (<He of those primitive concepts which have been taken uj) and jjurilied by revelation, but which may retain some traces of their origin in a lowtr stage of belief. It is not surprising, there- fore, if some survivals of ancient Semitic lieathen- ism should ai)pear amongst OT applications of the idea of holiness. One such survival is probablj' to be found in the conception of holiness as a quality transmis.sible by contact, and constituting ".n certain circumstances a danger to be scrupulouslj' avoided (see Ezk 44 "> 4G=", E.\ '29" 30-«, Lv 6-' etc.; cf. Hag 2'='-).§ Another peculiar lase is that of the vineyard (or field) sown with dill'erent kinds of seed, which is said thereby to ' become holy '
• The two primary words in wliich tlie root appears are the abstract noun vip (lioliness) and the a<ij. w'ni^ (holy) ; the vertjal forms in use appear to l>e all denominatives derived from these. The simple fonn of tlie verb (^1^) occurs only 10 times, always with the sense of ' become iioly,* or 'contract holiiiL-sa • ; Ex 2921- 37 30'^, I^v 0"- 20, Nu IV- », Dt 229, l s 21«, Hag 213 (in Is C53, and possibly 1 S 21'*, the te.vt is wrongly pointed). The secondary sense is, of course, still more obvious in the two causatives (t*'p and B'*^pn) and the two reflexives (enp; and aijinn). The oilier derivativea are B''Jp5 <sanctuary), vh^ [f .TyHp] (itpcievXct), and the proper names c'^ij and C'"p.
t Dilluiann (^17* Theoi. p. 2.')4) refers to the Assyr. kudduht (said to be a synonym for * bright'), and is disposed to connect the root, as others have done before him, with cnn (new). l>elitz-'*fh, on the oth^r hand {Pltt^, ort. ' Hcilij^keit Oottos'). reasoriinir 'rom the Sumerian equivalent of kailiitu (sacred prostitute), fourl a conflnnation of tiie old theoIo;;icAl defini- tion of holiness as freedom from defect (mnniti Uitiis txprrti). But these are highly speculative constnictions, which conunand noconlldence, and. moreover. j;ivc no assurance Utat they reach the orijjinal sense of tlie word.
J See liaudissin, pp. 19 40 ; Noldeke, LCDt. 1870, col. Sai t.
§ An Araliian parallel to tlie communicnllon of holiness by clotlilni; is civen by W. U. Smith in litl. Srm.^ p. i!<X. At Mecca, in the times of heathenism, the sacred circuit of the Caal>a was made by the Hidouins, either naked, or in clothes borrowed from one of the Itmn*, or reli^rious coiiumiiiity of the sacred city. ... It ap)iears that sonietimes a man did make the circuit in his own cloth ;.h, but in that cose be couttl neither wear them ai;ain nor sell them, but had to leave them si llie gate of the sanctuarr.*
(Dt 22»; cf. Lv 19'9). Again, in the pagan ritee described in Is 65', the bystanders are warned not to come near lest they should be ' sanctified ' (the verb to be pointed as Fiel). These phenomena, which appear to our minds to introduce an irrational element into the idea of holiness, irresistibly sug- gest an allinity with a custom universal amongst primitive peoples, according to wliich man's free use of natural objects, etc., was restrained by fear of supernatural penalties. This institution has come to be denoted by the name taboo, and the instances just cited seem to indicate a close analogy between taboo and the primitive !i.s.sociations of the word 'holiness' in Semitic religion. Thia would account for the remarkable points of con- tact between the laws of holiness and those of uncleanncss ; the two notions being in their origin practically identical. The iir.st great step towards the spiritualizing of the idea of holiness was taken by or relirjion when it established a distinction between things wliose use is proliihited because they are appro])riated to J", and things that may not be touched because they are hateful to Him. The latter belong to the category of the Uxclkan (.see the art.), while the term ' holy ' is, as a rule, reserved for the former.*
In considering OT uses of the terms for holiness, it will be convenient to arrange them in the following order : I. Holiness of places, things, and seasons; II. Holiness of God and angels; III. Holiness of man.
I. H0LINE.S.S OF I'LACES, Things, and Seasons. — The material objects classed as holy are far too numerous to be separately mentioned here. The general principle of OT religion undoubtedly is that things are holy in virtue of their connexion with the worship of J". The sanctuary itself in all its paits, the utensils employed in the ritual, the clothing of the attendants, the sacrihces and everything dedicated to J", are sacred in various degrees through having been brought within the siihere of J"'s worship, and so ' separated ' from their natural and common relations. It is true that the cases mentioned above (Ut 22', Ex 29*', LvG-''etc.) can only with somedilhculty be brought completely under this princi|)le. An attempt is made to sustain the rule by the theory that such things or persons were forfeited for the use of the priests or the service of the sanctuary, as was the case with the censers of Korah's company, which having become holy through being presented to God were unlit for use, and were directed to be made into plates for the altar (Nu 16*=-"[Heb. IT'-"]). This is iio.ssible, although there is no clear evidence of it, and, in the case of the Held (Dt i^J"), a more likely supposition would be tliat the crop was simply not to be u.sed. Even if it was conti-scated, that was only a consequence of the holiness it had already contracted for a dillerent reason ; and it is probable that in such cases we have a survival of a conception of holiness in which a relation to J" was not the exclusive regulating principle. But, with these unimportant excejiliofis, the rule holds good that holine.fs is an attribute of the things pertaining to the worship of .1 ", and is acipiired by them through nearness to Him who is the -sourc? of all holiness. Holiness, in short, expresses a relation, which consists negiitivelv in separation from common use, and positively in dedication to the service of J".